


The Consequences of Desperation

by oddlittleangel



Series: Supernatural Short Stories [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Short Story, all original characters - Freeform, like a ghost story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-26
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2018-01-02 16:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1059078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oddlittleangel/pseuds/oddlittleangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Halloween short story - Christian Shurley, a man who seems to have the best of luck, is struck with tragedy and, getting no help from God, decides to turn to the devil and makes a demon deal. Little does he know that such a sin has dire consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Consequences of Desperation

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is my first ever fic, so be gentle. Just so you know, this is NOT, I repeat NOT, a slash fic, so if that's what you were looking for I suggest you hit the back button or go on over to my bookmarks instead - great slash stories listed there. (Actually, this is a really short fic so why don't you just go ahead and read it anyway?) This is a horror story I wrote for Halloween and it has endless Supernatural references. So if you're looking for a literature equivalent of a horror flick, read on. If you do, I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Warnings: Graphic descriptions of violence (may be disturbing for those with weaker stomachs, but then again you probably watch Supernatural so that should be no problem), all original characters (again, the story was inspired by Supernatural and does not include any of the characters in the show), major character death (I mean it's a horror story, come on), sad sad really really sad ending (I swear, this monster is like never ending darkness!)
> 
> Whew! Still with me? Great! Read on my brave little bookworm!

Would you like to hear a story? It’s not very frightening, I promise. Yes? Alright then.

Our story begins in a small town in Kansas. Like all small towns, it had a town drunk, a few restaurants, a sheriff, and local bar. Like all small towns, it had its secrets. One such secret was that of Christian Shurley. Mr. Shurley was a well respected man; never got drunk, paid all his bills, had a kind word for everyone, and like the rest of the town, he was a dedicated Catholic. He had an even temper, held family in the highest regard, and was always willing to listen to other people’s problems and lend a helping hand. If you had a problem in Lawrence, Kansas, Christian Shurley was the first person to see. In addition to being the ideal individual, Mr. Shurley also had the privilege of having a perfect life. Nice house, nice wife, nice job, nice car. As if that weren’t enough, his wife was almost due to have their first child, a bouncing baby girl who would be named Anna-Marie.

However, fate is fickle and has a funny way of spoiling things. Maybe it decided that Mr. Shurley’s life was too perfect. Maybe it got bored or angry and elected to take it out on him. A thousand maybes will never explain the tragedy that struck Mr. Shurley. Whatever the case, the baby was born exactly four weeks late on Halloween, after Mrs. Shurley started developing excruciating contractions on Friday the Thirteenth, and died during the delivery, her unfortunate mother passing with her. Wrought with grief and denial, Christian retreated into himself. He refused to have the baby buried and lapsed into ceaseless prayer, stopping neither to eat nor sleep. What’s dead is meant to stay dead however, and no amount of prayer would bring his family back. Upon seeing that God would not help him, he decided to turn to the other side of the spectrum and try less…traditional methods.

Consumed by desperation, Mr. Shurley climbed into his car and drove to a crossroads just outside of town. Clambering out, he walked to the center of the crossroads and buried a small box. He had spent hours researching lore about demon deals and had enclosed the proper items necessary for summoning a crossroads demon: a photograph of the summoner, graveyard dirt, a black cat’s bone, and some yarrow. He only had to wait for a few moments before she appeared, a striking woman in a black dress with red eyes. At any other time, he might have considered her beautiful, but he knew of the darkness lurking behind the thick lashes and was still filled with grief for his late wife. So it was that with eyes moist and downcast he proceeded to make a deal with the Devil, or at least one of his representatives. After much debate, the two agreed that she would bring his daughter back, on the condition that every year on her birthday he kill a child, making an exchange for another year of her life.

Driving home, he sank onto his bed and cried himself to sleep, heart heavy with what he had promised. The next morning, he woke to the cries of a baby. _His_ baby. Sobbing with joy, he rushed into the nursery and proceeded to take care of his child, no longer thanking God but the Devil. One year passed too quickly; before long it was Halloween again and it was his turn to hold up his end of the deal. By the end of the night, Johnny Bradbury from down the street was dead, hung by the neck in the Shurley basement. Next year was Alyssa Jameson with her wrists slit open. Mr. Shurley grew to dread the ringing of the doorbell, burdened with the knowledge that one of the children climbing up the porch steps, innocently reciting “Trick or Treat!” would meet their premature demise, and at his hands. Time has a way of healing things however, and over the years, Mr. Shurley grew callous to the muffled screams of children, to the feeling of small, lifeless bodies sagging in his hands as he prepared to dispose of them. He even began telling Anna-Marie scary stories about the children on Halloween, never letting slip the gruesome fact that they were actually true and that he was responsible for their deaths.

The tenth Halloween came just like any other. Christian woke Anna Marie up, gave her a birthday present, brought her to school, and went to work. At around five o’clock, he sent his daughter trick-or-treating with her friends and settled in for a long night. At seven o’clock, he pulled in an unsuspecting Lewis Campbell and proceeded to stab him in the heart, ending his misery as fast as he could. Before the light could leave young Louie’s eyes however, a strange sort of calm seemed to settle over the boy and he said, “That wasn’t a very nice thing to do Mr. Shurley. You know God won’t like it.” That was the last thing Lewis Campbell ever said, and his limp body collapsed, Mr. Shurley’s arms barely sagging under what was now a familiar weight. Needless to stay, Christian was somewhat unnerved; none of the other children had said anything like that before.

Shaking his head, he got rid of the corpse and picked up Anna-Marie from her friend’s house. After giving her dinner and grudgingly allowing her to eat a few pieces of candy, he tucked her into bed and told her the year’s story. It was then that another oddity occurred; his daughter, instead of telling him she wasn’t scared anymore, shivered and pulled the blankets over her head, begging “Daddy, can you stay with me tonight? I’m scared.” Chuckling to himself but a little unsettled, he told her no, that she was a big girl now and had to sleep by herself. Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion washed over him and he trudged to his room across the hall, flopping down onto his bed and promptly sinking into a restless sleep.

At around midnight, he jolted awake to the sound of footsteps approaching. Thinking it was his daughter seeking comfort from a nightmare, he sat up and said, “Come in sweetie.” The door creaked open, but when no one appeared behind it, he dismissed it as his imagination and lay down again to go back to sleep. His head had barely touched the pillow when he thought he heard a faint swishing noise, such as one of cloth being dragged across the hardwood floor. He sat up again, but seeing no one, reluctantly lay back down. He lay awake in bed, tossing and turning for a minute until there was a bright flash of light. Jumping out of bed, his throat closed at the ghastly sight before him. There stood his Anna-Marie, and around her floated ten semi-translucent figures. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, they widened in horror as he recognized the ten children he had killed, complete with the newest edition, Lewis Campbell.

He stifled a scream as the first ghost, Johnny Bradbury, descended down to his daughter and poured into her, misty grey smoke rushing into her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. When her head plopped down from its thrown back position, she wasn’t Anna-Marie any more. No, she was Johnny Bradbury. With a young but distinctly masculine voice, she said, “Remember how much you hurt us Mr. Shurley? Remember the sound of my neck snapping? We don’t want to hurt anymore. We want revenge.” With that, Anna-Marie’s arms snapped back, bending in an unnatural angle until they cracked. It was then that Johnny Bradbury decided to vacate her body, ascending back up to the circle to join his fellow victims. Anna-Marie started screaming, enveloped in a stabbing pain lancing up and down her upper arms. Her blood curdling shrieks were cut short however when Alyssa Jameson took her turn, threatening Mr. Shurley and proceeding to break his daughter’s forearms. She too left then, the next vengeful ghost holding back just long enough for Mr. Shurley to hear Anna-Marie's anguished moans. He stared, held immobile by some supernatural power, tears streaking his face, as one by one the ghosts possessed his daughter and broke her bones, moving down her body snapping wrists, fingers, thighs, calves, ankles, and even toes. By the time the ninth ghost arched her back past breaking point and withdrew, she was reduced to a quivering mess, whimpering, moaning, and sobbing, “Help me Daddy. Make it stop,” standing only because of the ghostly power that controlled the whole room.

When the ghost of Lewis Campbell entered the broken body, he forced her head up and told Christian, “Now you will always be alone,” before twisting Anna-Marie’s head violently to the side, breaking her neck just like Mr. Shurley had broken Johnny Bradbury’s all those years ago. After a moment of staring at his daughter’s corpse, Mr. Shurley suddenly found himself filled with a crushing cold as the ghosts of all ten children rushed into him. His mind was crammed with the last memories of his victims, every repulsive detail from the sharp crack or a neck to the stabbing pain of a knife. He was forced to relive each moment, unable to escape the horror of it all. Without warning, a deafening chorus of children’s voices filled his mind, explaining that it was never the Devil’s intention to let him live a long life with his daughter. Instead, he was to be killed on the tenth Halloween, then dragged down to Hell to be tortured for a millennium before finally becoming a crossroads demon himself, destined to an eternity of damning poor, unsuspecting souls to the same fate.

He had barely processed this new information when the sound of vicious barking filled the air. The ghost children fled, leaving him one last parting gift: gashes that appeared all over his body, leaving him crumpled on the ground, unable to move. The door burst open, and three invisible dogs leapt in snarling, nails scraping on the floorboards as they advanced toward him. Resigned to his fate, he sent a final plea to heaven, begging to be let into the pearly gates. His prayer went unheeded however, and the hounds ripped him apart, dragging his blackened soul down to Hell. When he woke up, he found himself run through with chains, suspended in the darkness, while lightning flashed and thunder rolled. There was no cool rain to soothe burning bodies, and the stench of festering flesh permeated through the air. Realizing where he was, Christian Shurley began an endless scream, adding to the cacophony of the ones already ringing in his ears.

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> So, how did you like it? Good? Bad? "OMG OMG FandomUniversity is like the BEST writer ever," (Picture that in an annoyingly high pitched preteen voice, or you when you start fangirling.) or "Stop. Just stop. Never defile the keyboard with your asinine words again. Why did I even read that. That was such a waste of my damn time." (I'm imagining some moody teenager here.)? I need to know what you think people! I don't care if you hate it or love it, send me your thoughts. Wait never mind, don't kill me with words. Just kidding, I want your hate too. Got it people? I NEED YOUR OPINIONS! I'm also in dire need of suggestions for this and future works. Should I change something? Were there any grammar mistakes? Should I extend it into something longer? What would you like to see in the future? You get the picture. Okay, bye for now. Hopefully I'll have more for you soon!


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